Youngsters want better education all around world
Güncelleme Tarihi:
by Aslı Sağlam
Oluşturulma Tarihi: Mart 21, 2009 00:00
ISTANBUL - World Water Youth Forum, organized for the 4th time within the 5th World Water Forum, brought together hundreds of youngsters from around the world. They discussed the same themes as the participants of the Forum but they already have a concrete solution to world's water problem: They want better education all around the world
While politicians, nongovernmental organizations and company owners were attending many discussions, panels and meetings at the 5th World Water Forum, young adults in attendance have already started taking action to save what's remaining of the world's water.
The 4th World Water Youth Forum 2009, organized for the fourth time under the theme, "Wave to Bridge the Divide," brought together hundreds of youth from around the world. During the last week they discussed the same themes as the adult world water forum participants, and the youth now have a concrete solution to the world's water problem: They want better education all around the world.
The young adults, ages 15 to 26, believe their opinions and decisions can have an affect on politicians, governments and veterans of water related issues, gathered and prepared a declaration to announce they want education to raise awareness that the situation on the scarcity of water is serious.
Annika Greup from the Netherlands, Isaac Musyoka from Kenya, Arın Pamukçu, Sibel Güçlü, Yiğit Canay and Aras Güvenç from Turkey were among the youngsters at the youth forum.
The youth forum was organized by a consortium of different organizations and was supported by many establishments. The young adults came together to discuss the same six themes as the 5th World Water Forum. But they discussed the topics from the youth side.
International participants
Just like World Water Forum, there were participants from different organizations, and people from Japan, Denmark and Belgium. In addition the organizations, there were also young adults who are not affiliated with any organizations taking part. They were called "youth ambassadors," because they were taking part in the forum to reflect the problems in their regions. There were 150 participants in total coming from 25 countries. "Everybody has something different to say so we have really had stimulating debates," said Serkan.
Annika was the only one among them who took part in the first Youth Forum, which was held at the 2nd World Water Forum, organized in The Hague. "I was a bit too young then, but I helped them organize it," she said.
In all the youth forums the goal was not only talking about the youth problems related to water but also trying and influencing all the different actors in the forum. They discussed their own opinions and what they thought should be done. They youth ambassadors did not only tell other people to spend more money on youth and their education, they, as young people, see the power in themselves to create their projects, such as educating younger children and setting up actions to raise awareness.
Difference between forums
Isaac thinks that the difference between the two forums was that, as young people, they come to the forum with fresh ideas and opinions. "The main thing we bring here is diversity from different realities. In Kenya people are not able to access clean water. This is like a crossroad between Africa and Europe. Our main objective is to lobby with state orders and the world water forum, and put our offers in consideration," Isaac said.
Underlining that they were not politicians or business owners or executives, Annika said; "We are all united to have a secure future for everyone because it’s our future. In the main forum there are also people from many different countries, but they have their goals to follow because it’s their country’s position. We are independent. The only thing that unites us is to work for a safer feature for everyone."
Aras agreed with Annika’s speech and said, "Besides being united and sharing the same aim, we are energetic and very much motivated. If we cannot find any solutions we will try to find new ideas at least, to lobby these ideas with government members, politicians and company representatives," Even though they see themselves lacking some technical and detailed information about the water issues, the youth ambassadors offered different ideas from the main forum and added excitement, motivation and aspiration.
Sibel said even though the young adults were not a part of the decision-making process they were still taking part in the forum to affect decisions of the policy and decision makers.
Women should be included
According to the members of the youth forum, in order to empathize with somebody else’s problems one should incorporate it into the policy making areas. "To solve women’s problems related to water, they should include women in this process. To bring genuine solutions for youth-related problems, one should incorporate youth. That’s why the youth forum is important," said Sibel, adding that they were trying to make their voices heard by expressing their opinions.
They asked for youth to be involved in policy making. For them, involving youth will broaden the path to the solutions because they are the ones who are able to think outside the box.
The young adults, who also took part in the themed sessions of the 5th World Water Forum representing their discussions, have worked on a "Youth Declaration." The declaration was on the six themes and the general action they thought youth and others can take. They presented the declaration to the forum participants and distributed a copy of it to the attendees so that people can look and refer back to the ideas when they go back to their local communities.
They hope that their declaration will be considered because they are bringing objectivity to the international and intercultural dialogue to the forum. The politicians, stakeholders and all the experts have many ideas but at the end of the day young adults want them to take action.
Arın said that the declaration not only shows the actions that they want to take, but that they care about the issues being discussed during the forum. "It is for the youth to be recognized."
While Isaac asked for the policy makers who have ideas on how solve the water problem, to take action to bridge the water divide. Aras said many politicians, stakeholders and experts have their own aspirations and policies to follow, but "we come from different places and we only have one aim and the same point of view."
Education is important
The most important point for them is education so the declaration’s focus is mostly on education. Improvements can be made if people are better educated on how to use water and techniques to conserve, they said. They think there should be classes in schools for children to be more aware about the water problem. They also have local and global action projects.
Although their ideas refer to all of the countries around the world, they believe it all can start with the local action. "It’s all about starting with individual action. We cannot reverse what is happening but we can stop it," Isaac said. We will not wait for our governments to take action; we will start ourselves, Annika said. The youth ambassadors follow the motto "think globally but act locally."
These young adults will keep communicating to encourage to more people and youth to make a change. The Youth Forum helped them become aware of the situation in other countries and they are not planning to forget the experience when they return home. "We are building networks. We will set up a body to keep up with each other, because the time between the forums is too long and we want to continue working. We aim to have a sustainable cooperation," said Annika.
The 4th World Water Youth Forum 2009, organized for the fourth time under the theme, "Wave to Bridge the Divide," brought together hundreds of youth from around the world. During the last week they discussed the same themes as the adult world water forum participants, and the youth now have a concrete solution to the world's water problem: They want better education all around the world.
The young adults, ages 15 to 26, believe their opinions and decisions can have an affect on politicians, governments and veterans of water related issues, gathered and prepared a declaration to announce they want education to raise awareness that the situation on the scarcity of water is serious.
Annika Greup from the Netherlands, Isaac Musyoka from Kenya, Arın Pamukçu, Sibel Güçlü, Yiğit Canay and Aras Güvenç from Turkey were among the youngsters at the youth forum.
The youth forum was organized by a consortium of different organizations and was supported by many establishments. The young adults came together to discuss the same six themes as the 5th World Water Forum. But they discussed the topics from the youth side.
International participants
Just like World Water Forum, there were participants from different organizations, and people from Japan, Denmark and Belgium. In addition the organizations, there were also young adults who are not affiliated with any organizations taking part. They were called "youth ambassadors," because they were taking part in the forum to reflect the problems in their regions. There were 150 participants in total coming from 25 countries. "Everybody has something different to say so we have really had stimulating debates," said Serkan.
Annika was the only one among them who took part in the first Youth Forum, which was held at the 2nd World Water Forum, organized in The Hague. "I was a bit too young then, but I helped them organize it," she said.
In all the youth forums the goal was not only talking about the youth problems related to water but also trying and influencing all the different actors in the forum. They discussed their own opinions and what they thought should be done. They youth ambassadors did not only tell other people to spend more money on youth and their education, they, as young people, see the power in themselves to create their projects, such as educating younger children and setting up actions to raise awareness.
Difference between forums
Isaac thinks that the difference between the two forums was that, as young people, they come to the forum with fresh ideas and opinions. "The main thing we bring here is diversity from different realities. In Kenya people are not able to access clean water. This is like a crossroad between Africa and Europe. Our main objective is to lobby with state orders and the world water forum, and put our offers in consideration," Isaac said.
Underlining that they were not politicians or business owners or executives, Annika said; "We are all united to have a secure future for everyone because it’s our future. In the main forum there are also people from many different countries, but they have their goals to follow because it’s their country’s position. We are independent. The only thing that unites us is to work for a safer feature for everyone."
Aras agreed with Annika’s speech and said, "Besides being united and sharing the same aim, we are energetic and very much motivated. If we cannot find any solutions we will try to find new ideas at least, to lobby these ideas with government members, politicians and company representatives," Even though they see themselves lacking some technical and detailed information about the water issues, the youth ambassadors offered different ideas from the main forum and added excitement, motivation and aspiration.
Sibel said even though the young adults were not a part of the decision-making process they were still taking part in the forum to affect decisions of the policy and decision makers.
Women should be included
According to the members of the youth forum, in order to empathize with somebody else’s problems one should incorporate it into the policy making areas. "To solve women’s problems related to water, they should include women in this process. To bring genuine solutions for youth-related problems, one should incorporate youth. That’s why the youth forum is important," said Sibel, adding that they were trying to make their voices heard by expressing their opinions.
They asked for youth to be involved in policy making. For them, involving youth will broaden the path to the solutions because they are the ones who are able to think outside the box.
The young adults, who also took part in the themed sessions of the 5th World Water Forum representing their discussions, have worked on a "Youth Declaration." The declaration was on the six themes and the general action they thought youth and others can take. They presented the declaration to the forum participants and distributed a copy of it to the attendees so that people can look and refer back to the ideas when they go back to their local communities.
They hope that their declaration will be considered because they are bringing objectivity to the international and intercultural dialogue to the forum. The politicians, stakeholders and all the experts have many ideas but at the end of the day young adults want them to take action.
Arın said that the declaration not only shows the actions that they want to take, but that they care about the issues being discussed during the forum. "It is for the youth to be recognized."
While Isaac asked for the policy makers who have ideas on how solve the water problem, to take action to bridge the water divide. Aras said many politicians, stakeholders and experts have their own aspirations and policies to follow, but "we come from different places and we only have one aim and the same point of view."
Education is important
The most important point for them is education so the declaration’s focus is mostly on education. Improvements can be made if people are better educated on how to use water and techniques to conserve, they said. They think there should be classes in schools for children to be more aware about the water problem. They also have local and global action projects.
Although their ideas refer to all of the countries around the world, they believe it all can start with the local action. "It’s all about starting with individual action. We cannot reverse what is happening but we can stop it," Isaac said. We will not wait for our governments to take action; we will start ourselves, Annika said. The youth ambassadors follow the motto "think globally but act locally."
These young adults will keep communicating to encourage to more people and youth to make a change. The Youth Forum helped them become aware of the situation in other countries and they are not planning to forget the experience when they return home. "We are building networks. We will set up a body to keep up with each other, because the time between the forums is too long and we want to continue working. We aim to have a sustainable cooperation," said Annika.